Plain Dealer fileA mans walks by the "Changing Phases of Mount Pleasant" mural on East 116th Street at Kinsman in 2007. Black families have moved in ever larger numbers from inner-ring suburbs and neighborhoods, like Mount Pleasant, to more distant suburbs, changing the complexion of many communities.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Establishing a new and powerful migration pattern, black families fled their Cleveland neighborhoods in large numbers last decade. They transformed some inner-ring suburbs and brought new diversity to wealthier, outer suburbs.

In a decade of change, black flight from the city accelerated toward the level of white flight, census data shows. It's a prime reason Cleveland lost a staggering 17 percent of its population.

Meanwhile, black families moved in ever larger numbers from inner-ring suburbs to more distant suburbs, changing the complexion of many communities.

"It's a significant new migration and I think it's caused by a confluence of issues," said Gregory Brown, the executive director of the local public policy think tank Policy Bridge.

In many black city neighborhoods, Brown said, the foreclosure crisis forced families from their homes. But it also opened up new worlds as prices plunged and vacancies loomed in nearby suburbs.

"They moved into neighborhoods with better schools and they moved into neighborhoods with maybe better safety and security," Brown said.

Black populations rose dramatically last decade in Euclid, Maple Heights, Garfield Heights and Bedford Heights, as well as in South Euclid, Richmond Heights and Willoughby Hills.

If there are more and affordable options for black families, there is also a new challenge for Cleveland, which must find a way to replace one of its most reliable population groups.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released the first local details of the 2010 census this month, Cleveland lost 33,000 black residents last decade, probably its largest black exodus ever.

The 15 percent decline in the black community stands in sharp contrast to the 1990s, when the black community grew by 6 percent.

Black population gains in some cities

Six Greater Cleveland suburbs are among the Ohio cities with the largest increase in black residents from 2000 to 2010, according to new census figures. (The current percent of black residents is in parentheses.)

1. Columbus, 46,176 (28 percent)

2. Euclid, 9,635 (52.6 percent)

3. Garfield Heights, 5,124 (35.7 percent)

4. Reynoldsburg, 5,027 (23.3 percent)

5. Toledo, 4,219 (27.2 percent)

6. Maple Heights, 4,190 (68.2 percent)

7. South Euclid, 4,041 (40.7 percent)

8. Bedford, 2,973 (41.9 percent)

9. Fairfield, 2,900 (12.8 percent)

10. Lakewood, 2,224 (6.4 percent)

Among Greater Cleveland cities, these communities had the biggest change in the percent of black population from 2000 to 2010.

1. Bedford, 17.6 percent to 41.9 percent

2. Maple Heights, 44.3 percent to 68.2 percent

3. Euclid, 30.6 percent to 52.6 percent

4. Richmond Heights, 23.9 percent to 44.9 percent

5. South Euclid, 21.4 percent to 40.7 percent

6. Garfield Heights, 16.8 percent to 35.7 percent

7. Willoughby Hills, 6.4 percent to 16.1 percent

8. Bedford Heights, 67.4 percent to 76.9 percent

9. Mayfield Heights, 3 percent to 10.3 percent

10. Conneaut, 1.1 percent to 7.5 percent

Black residents represent the majority in nine Ohio cities, up from seven in 2000 with the addition of Euclid and Maple Heights. These are the local cities with black majorities.

1. Warrensville Heights, 93.5 percent

2. East Cleveland, 93.2 percent

3. Bedford Heights, 76.9 percent

4. Maple Heights, 68.2 percent

5. Cleveland, 53.3 percent

6. Euclid, 52.6 percent

Rich Exner, Plain Dealer data analysis editor

White flight remains the dominant migration pattern. About 50,000 white residents, or a quarter of the white community, left the city last decade. Some historically white ethnic neighborhoods changed dramatically.

Slavic Village, for example, lost 10,000 white residents and gained 3,000 black residents to become about 40 percent black.

"A lot of this I think is nature," said Marie Kittredge, director of the Slavic Village Development Corp.

She noted the once-Slavic enclave also saw an influx of Hispanic families, many drawn to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, a former Czech parish.

"The original folks who settled here raised their kids and moved on," she said. "So now new young families are moving in, and they typically are African-American. We also are getting Hispanic families, which is cool."

Because of faster white decline in the city, the black community rose in prominence to become 53 percent of Cleveland, up from 51 percent in 2000. White residents now comprise 37 percent of the city.

The city's Asian community grew slightly for the third straight decade. While Asians remain less than 2 percent of the urban population, they are key parts of growing population centers, like University Circle.

Only Hispanics displayed a willingness to move into Cleveland in significant numbers. The 2010 Census counted 39,534 people of Hispanic descent in the city, 5,000 more than 10 years before, making Hispanics 10 percent of the city.

The growing numbers of Hispanics and Asians, however, could not make up for steady white flight and new black flight.

All of Cleveland's majority-black wards lost population last decade, some dramatically. Combined, the nine majority-black wards lost 48,724 black residents.

While all of Cleveland's majority-white wards gained blackpopulation, that was largely because of blacks moving across the river.

City officials cite the housing crisis for the black exodus. They note that many of the neighborhoods most depleted were also the most afflicted by foreclosures. When families lost homes, or landlords fell into foreclosure, renters and homeowners alike had to had to find new places to live.

"No doubt many of those new homes were in the suburbs," said city planning director Robert Brown. "When there's that much displacement, you're going to get movement."

Others say they think the city lost many families that owned their homes but left anyway.

"They're moving out because of crime and because of the schools," said Councilman Zack Reed, whose Ward 2 on Cleveland's southeast side lost 26 percent of its population. "Those are the two fundamental reasons that people leave."

Reed faults the city for steering resources to poor, unstable neighborhoods at the expense of its few stable neighborhoods, like Mount Pleasant, Collinwood and Kamms Corner.

"These are the neighborhoods with middle-class homeowners who pay taxes," he said. "These are the people we need to keep."

And still others say transition is inevitable, and that Cleveland is not the only Northeast Ohio community that needs to keep looking for its next wave of newcomers.

Russell Johnson, a former Cleveland police officer, had lived in University Heights for 28 years when he and his wife, Mary, joined the black migration to Richmond Heights in 2000.

They built in the upscale Richmond Bluffs neighborhood when it was about 20 percent black. Today, the neighborhood's about 40 percent black and "very stable," said Johnson, the president of the homeowner's association.

He said they moved for the same reasons many people do.

"I knew this was an up and coming community," he said. "And, well, it was a time in our lives when we wanted a little more space between us and the neighbors. It was purely for the quality of life."

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